Detective Bob Bridger — page 103: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

96 DETECTIVE BOB BRIDGER. ‘“Hrom this island we were taken by a ship bound for Madras. : ‘‘On arriving here I stated my case to the British Con- sul, but he would do nothing for me. Meanwhile I could obtain no chance to ship as a salior, for my lungs had be- come affected, and | was too weak to do duty as a seaman. And here, among the blacks upon the wharves, I have re- mained, earning my existence, and dying by inches, | ‘‘On thinking over all my woes,” the poor fellow added, ‘*T resolved this day to end my misery at once. If I might not meet wife and child in this world, I trusted that there was another beyond where I might at least learn their fate. And thus resolved, I swam boldly away from my black | companions in the breakers, and, but for them, had now been dead.” ‘‘Although wasted and weak from a confirmed long dis- order,” continued Dr. Macy, ‘‘Alfonse’s condition improved somewhat under treatment, and a few days subsequent to our strange meeting we sailed together for London, praying and hoping against reason, to find Alice and her child some- how providentially preserved, and safe to greet us. ‘‘Arriving in London we sought an inspector of police, and begged that the records might be searched in the hope that the charities and corrections had taken the poor starv- ing ~irl and her babe in their charge. ‘The inspector informed us of Jean Godot’s death, and of the letter which had been accepted in lieu of his will and > that Alfonse need only prove that he was Jean Godot’s son to come into legal possession of the estate left by his father. ‘*Videre, he said, was at the time engaged in building a race-track upon one of the farms where he kept a stable of thoroughbred race-horses, and he advised Alfonse to lose no time in notifying him and the proper authorities of his return. ‘*He then told us that he feared that Alice was dead, and that he had understood that her babe was being reared, in ignorance of its parentage, by a family called Bolard, who had emigrated to America. ‘“When we pressed him for further information his words were : “The truth is, there is an air of criminal mystery en- shrouding the death of Jean Godot, and implicating the Bolards. You will, therefore, mention to no one that you have called here, as it might retard your own interests, and our efforts. A detective, in whom we have every <a liance, is now in America on the trail of the Bolard family, ae , 4s , = rt : oes ‘ * a comicbooks.com — ‘ > - F o> 4 ee * . aid